In the Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play)

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Inspired by historical fact, the play is set in Victorian America when middle-class morality proclaimed women didn't enjoy sex and a wide range of "female problems" were classified as hysteria. In an upstate New York spa town, just after Thomas Edison's discovery of electricity, a gynecologist treats these problems in his home office through the use of a newly designed (and effective!) electric vibrator. But the well-meaning doctor is aware he has much to learn about women, particularly his wife...and he freely admits, "What men do not perceive because their intellect prevents them from seeing would fill a book."

The seven smart characters are each on their own spirited quest for new possibilities and happiness, immersed in the mysteries of gender and the politics of desire. Ruhl's play is about sexuality (most of it happens under a sheet), but it is neither a dirty joke or campy pornography - she is much more concerned with what women want.

"Provocative, funny, sensual and surprisingly romantic."

--Associated Press

"She makes sweet and smart comic music out of the most unlikeliest of subjects."

--The New York Times